© 2001-2006 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Lars Ahlberg.
Revision 4
3 December 1941:
Undocked. Returns to Hashirajima. Anchors in readiness condition.
8 December 1941: Operation "Z" – The Attack on Pearl Harbor:
BatDiv 1's MUTSU and NAGATO sortie from Hashirajima to the Bonin Islands with the First Fleet's Bat Div 1, BatDiv 2's ISE, HYUGA, FUSO and YAMASHIRO, light carrier HOSHO, escorted by light cruisers OI and KITAKAMI and eight destroyers.
13 December 1941:
BatDiv 1 returns to Hashirajima, maintains ‘standby alert’. During this period, BatDiv 1 is involved in training, exercises and gunnery practice in the western Inland Sea. Minor repairs are carried out at Kure.
18 January 1942:
Kamegakubi Naval Proving Ground, Inland Sea, 15 miles SW of Kure. MUTSU acts as a target tug during new battleship YAMATO's gunnery trials off Kurahashi Island. MUTSU tows old Italian-built armored cruiser NISSHIN which, as a target ship, had been sunk earlier, but raised. YAMATO sinks her again with her 18.1-inch shells.
12 February 1942:
YAMATO joins BatDiv 1 with MUTSU and NAGATO. The Combined Fleet's flag is transferred from the NAGATO to YAMATO.
28 February 1942:
Departs for Agenosho (Bonin Islands).
1 March 1942:
Returns to Hashirajima.
5 March 1942:
At Kure for maintenance.
27 March 1942:
BatDiv 1 departs Hashirajima for training, returns to Tokuyama Bay.
30 March 1942:
At Hashirajima.
7 April 1942:
At Kure.
1 May 1942:
Captain Kogure is promoted to Rear Admiral.
5 May 1942:
BatDiv 1's MUTSU and NAGATO depart Hashirajima for gunnery practice in the Iyo Nada with BatDiv 2. The HYUGA's No. 5 turret gun blows up. She departs for Kure with FUSO as escort. MUTSU and the other battleships return to Hashirajima.
11 May 1942:
BatDiv 1 departs Hashirajima for gunnery and AA practice in the Iyo Nada. Returns that night.
15 May 1942:
Batdiv 1 departs Kure for three days of exercises with CruDiv 7's MOGAMI, MIKUMA, KUMANO and the SUZUYA in the Inland Sea.
19 May 1942:
The First Fleet and the First Air Fleet depart Hashirajima for two days of maneuvers at sea.
23 May 1942:
The fleets return to Hashirajima.
29 May 1942:
The First Fleet's Main Body: BatDiv 1's YAMATO, NAGATO and MUTSU departs Hashirajima with the light carrier HOSHO, the seaplane tenders CHIYODA and NISSHIN, Supply Group No. 1's oilers NARUTO and TOEI MARU and DesRon 3's light cruiser SENDAI with nine destroyers.
4 June 1942: Operation "MI" - The Battle of Midway:
The Main Body remains 300 miles behind Vice Admiral Nagumo's First Carrier Striking Force and does not engage U.S. forces.
5 June 1942:
The Main Body joins up with the remnants of Vice Admiral (Admiral, posthumously) Nagumo Chuichi's (former CO of YAMASHIRO) retiring Carrier Striking Force. MUTSU takes aboard about one-half of the survivors from the carriers AKAGI, KAGA, SORYU and HIRYU that had been picked up earlier by DesRon 10's destroyers. The MUTSU refuels DesRons 3 and 10's destroyers.
14 June 1942:
The Main Body returns to Hashirajima.
20 June 1942:
Hashirajima. Captain (later Rear Admiral) Yamazumi Teijiro (former CO of MYOKO) assumes command. Rear Admiral Kogure is reassigned as the Chief of Staff of Vice Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo's (former CO of HARUNA) 1st Southern Expeditionary Fleet.
3 July 1942:
At Tokuyama, probably to refuel.
6 July 1942:
Returns to Hashirajima.
14 July 1942:
Hashirajima. The First Fleet is reorganized. MUTSU and NAGATO are transferred from the Combined Fleet's Bat Div 1 to Vice Admiral Shimizu Mitsumi's (former CO of ISE) First Fleet in BatDiv 2 with YAMASHIRO, FUSO, ISE and HYUGA. BatDiv 2 performs 'standby alert' and training missions.
18 July 1942:
Departs Hashirajima. Arrives at Kure.
22 July 1942:
Kure. Drydocked.
29 July 1942:
Undocked.
3 August 1942:
Returns to Hashirajima.
9 August 1942:
The MUTSU is attached to Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Kondo Nobutake's (former CO of KONGO) Second Fleet, Advanced Force for Guadalcanal operations.
11 August 1942:
Departs Yokosuka for Truk with Kondo's Advanced Force: CruDiv 4's ATAGO, TAKAO and MAYA, CruDiv 5's HAGURO and MYOKO, CarDiv 11's seaplane tender CHITOSE, DesRon 4's light cruiser YURA and nine destroyers.
17 August 1942:
The Advanced Force arrives at Truk. MUTSU and three destroyers are assigned to the Fleet Train of the Support Force. The Fleet Train supports Kondo's Advanced Force and Vice Admiral Nagumo's Third Fleet.
20 August 1942:
Admiral Yamamoto dispatches the Advanced Force to rendezvous with Nagumo’s Main Body that is then enroute from Kure.
A Kawanishi H6K "Mavis" flying boat spots USS LONG ISLAND (ACV-1) ferrying aircraft. The MUTSU, the cruiser ATAGO and destroyers pursue the American ship, but no contact is made. (They are too late. LONG ISLAND, then 190 miles south of Guadalcanal off San Cristobal, catapults 19 Marine Grumman F4F "Wildcat" fighters and 12 Marine Douglas SBD "Dauntless" dive-bombers. They are the first aircraft to land on "Henderson" Field, Guadalcanal, home of the soon-to-be named "Cactus Air Force").
21 August 1942:
Nagumo's Third Fleet, Main Body: CarDiv 1's SHOKAKU and ZUIKAKU, CarDiv 2's RYUJO, BatDiv 11's HIEI, and KIRISHIMA, CruDiv 7's KUMANO and SUZUYA, CruDiv 8's CHIKUMA and TONE and Desron 10's light cruiser NAGARA and three destroyers is scheduled to arrive at Truk. Instead, Yamamoto orders Nagumo to refuel at sea from oilers and continue on towards Guadalcanal.
24 August 1942: The Battle of the Eastern Solomons:
At sea. Provides close support.
27 August 1942:
The MUTSU fires four rounds at tracking enemy aircraft. The MUTSU group is ordered south of the Solomon Islands to locate and attack an American Task Force that was spotted there by Japanese reconnaissance planes. MUTSU and her group fail to make contact and she is ordered to retun to port.
2 September 1942:
Arrives at Truk.
5 September 1942:
The Advanced Force returns to Truk.
9 September 1942:
MUTSU is incorporated into the Main Body of the Guadalcanal Operation Force. Training and maintenance at Truk.
20 September 1942:
Defensive anti-aircraft fire in the Rabaul area is unskilled and uncontrolled, so competent AA gunnery officers and men from MUTSU and YAMATO are dispatched from Truk to Rabaul to serve as instructors.
22 September 1942:
Truk. Thereafter, MUTSU participates in battle exercises.
17 October 1942:
Truk. Fleet oiler KENYO MARU arrives empty. MUTSU and YAMATO each off-load 4, 500-tons of fuel to the oiler so that she can refuel fleet units for the Guadalcanal operations.
7 January 1943:
MUTSU departs Truk via Saipan then to Kure with carrier ZUIKAKU, CruDiv 7's SUZUYA, Des Div 6's INAZUMA, DesDiv 19's ISONAMI, DesDiv 27's ARIAKE. DesDiv 20's AMAGIRI also escorts the task group from Saipan to Kure.
12 January 1943:
MUTSU detaches from the task group and makes port at Yokosuka Navy Yard.
12-28 January 1943:
Returns to Hashirashima. MUTSU resumes 'standby alert'.
29 January 1943:
Yokosuka. Drydocked
6 February 1943:
Undocked.
15 February 1943:
Departs Yokosuka.
16 February 1943:
Arrives at Hashirajima. Resumes training duties.
23 February 1943:
MUTSU’s home port is changed from Yokosuka to Hashirajima.
4 March 1943:
Departs Hashirajima. Arrives at Kure.
8 March 1943:
Departs Kure. Returns to Hashirajima.
10 March 1943:
Captain Miyoshi Teruhiko (former CO of MYOKO) assumes command. Captain (later Rear Admiral) Yamazumi is reassigned as Chief of Staff of the Eighth Fleet at Rabaul.
26 March 1943: The Battle of the Komandorski Islands:
North Pacific, off the Kamchatka Peninsula, Siberia. Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Charles H. McMorris (former CO of SAN FRANCISCO, CA-38) in USS RICHMOND (CL-9) with SALT LAKE CITY (CA-25) and four destroyers engages Vice Admiral Hosogaya Boshiro’s (former CO of MUTSU) Fifth Fleet's heavy cruisers NACHI (F) and MAYA, light cruisers TAMA and ABUKUMA and four destroyers escorting Convoy "D" carrying troops and supplies for the isolated garrison on Attu Island in the Aleutians. In a four-hour running gun battle, McMorris succeeds in causing the Japanese to abort their resupply mission. Disgraced, Hosogaya is relieved of command and forced to retire in July.
13 April 1943:
MUTSU departs Hashirajima for Kure. At Kure, in response to the Battle of the Komandorski Islands, she is made ready to participate in a sortie to reinforce the Aleutians. MUTSU takes aboard a full load of ammunition and supplies.
17 April 1943:
Departs Kure. Returns to Hashirajima.
18 April 1943:
Admiral Yamamoto, CINC, Combined Fleet, is killed by USAAF P-38s at Bougainville while visiting bases. This event undoubtedly delays the Aleutian sortie.
26 April:
Departs Hashirajima for Tokoyama, probably to refuel.
28 April 1943:
Returns to Hashirajima.
4 May 1943:
Departs Hashirajima for gunnery practice in the Iyo Nada.
5 May 1943:
Returns to Hashirajima.
10 May 1943:
Departs Hashirajima for gunnery practice in the Iyo Nada.
11 May 1943:
Returns to Hashirajima.
12 May 1943: American Operation "Landcrab":
Rear Admiral (later Admiral) Thomas C. Kinkaid's (former CO of INDIANAPOLIS, CA-35) Task Force 16, covered by Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell's (former CO of THATCHER, DD-162) Task Force 51, lands the Army's 7 th Division that captures Attu Island, Aleutians.
13 May 1943:
Returns to Hashirajima.
27 May 1943:
At Kure's Drydock No. 4 where her hull bottom is cleaned.
31 May 1943:
Returns to Hashirajima.
7 June 1943:
Captain Tsuruoka Nobumichi, who assumed command of the FUSO on June 1st, pays a call aboard MUTSU to meet with Captain Miyoshi, a classmate in Etajima's 43rd class.
8 June 1943:
MUTSU is moored at the flagship buoy midway between Hashirajima and the Suo-Oshima islands about two miles SW of Hashirajima. She hosts 113 flying cadets and 40 instructors of the Tsuchiura Naval Air Group who are aboard for a familiarization tour.
Captain Tsuruoka's FUSO is moored about 1,100 yards SW of MUTSU. DesRon 11’s flagship, light cruiser TATSUTA and several of the squadron’s newly commissioned destroyers are moored more distantly south of Hashirajima.
1145: After lunch, MUTSU’s deck crew prepares to move to mooring buoy No. 2 because NAGATO is expected to return at about 1300 from Kure after being drydocked. There is heavy fog and visibility is down to 500 yards. MUTSU's magazines contain a full load of ammunition including 16.1-inch Type 3 "Sanshikidan" incendiary shells designed as anti-aircraft rounds. Each shell weighs 2,064-lbs. and contains 1,200 submunitions. Each turret magazine contains 240 shells (120 per gun), including 50 "sanshiki-dans."
1213: Suddenly, MUTSU’s No. 3 turret’s magazine explodes. Vice Admiral Shimizu, Commander of the First Fleet, a few miles away aboard NAGATO sees a brilliant white explosion. Shortly thereafter, he receives a coded message from FUSO’s Captain Tsuruoka. It says: "MUTSU blew up!"
MUTSU breaks in two. The 535-ft forward section collapses to starboard, sinks quickly and lies on the pagoda mast on the floor of the bay. The 147-ft stern section upends, but remains floating. FUSO immediately launches two of her Vedette boats. Her crew rescues 353 survivors of the 1,474 crewmembers aboard MUTSU. Only 13 of the visiting flying cadets/instructors are among the survivors. The IJN can ill-afford the loss of 140 instructors and pilot trainees, particularly after the heavy losses sustained in April in Operation "I-GO" during the reinforcement of the 11th Air Fleet at Rabaul. Later, destroyers TAMANAMI and WAKATSUKI arrive, as do boats from TATSUTA and the cruiser MOGAMI. An antisubmarine alert is put into effect immediately.
1430: NAGATO arrives after zigzagging through Hiroshima Bay. Later, since no submarines are sighted, the alert is cancelled. Later, the frequency of patrols by naval vessels and aircraft is increased in Hiroshima Bay, the Iyo-nada and the Bungo and Kii Suido channels. NAGATO moors about 3,000 yards off FUSO’s port beam and takes aboard the survivors rescued by TATSUTA. All 39 wounded sailors are transported by TAMANAMI to a secluded hospital on Mitsukoshima. [1] A major cover-up is launched to conceal that something has happened to MUTSU. To further prevent rumors from spreading, many survivors are later sent to remote garrisons on Tarawa, Makin, Kwajalein, Saipan and Truk.
9 June 1943:
Hashirajima: At about 0200, MUTSU’s stern section sinks and comes to rest nearly upright in 130 feet of water in Hiroshima Bay at 33-58N, 132-24E.
In the morning, the first divers arrive and remain on the site for several months. FUSO serves as the "headquarters" for the salvage efforts. To conceal that MUTSU has sunk the divers are told that the ship they are exploring is similar to sister-ship NAGATO. Then the divers are allowed to familiarize themselves on NAGATO.
The final list of those lost aboard MUTSU totals 1,121 men including her skipper, Captain Miyoshi and his Executive Officer, Captain Ono Koro (former XO of KIRISHIMA), both of whom are promoted to Rear Admiral, posthumously.
Tokyo: The IJN suspects that the Type 3"Sanshiki-dan" incendiaries are the cause because a fire at the Sagami arsenal a few years earlier was caused by improper storage of the incendiary materials. After the accident, the Minister of the Navy, Admiral Shimada Shigetaro (former CO of HIEI) orders the Type 3 shells offloaded from all IJN ships carrying them.
Hashirajima: The "M-Commission" led by 60-year old Admiral Shiozawa Koichi (former CO of FURATAKA) is convened to conduct a formal accident investigation. Shiozawa considers all possibilities from the possibile detonation of "Sanshiki" shells to improbable attacks by a lone American torpedo plane or an attack by either a midget or fleet submarine.
Cdr Yasui Yasukado, the inventor of the "Sanshiki" shells is called in to testify. Tests are conducted at Kamegakubi on some shells salvaged from turret No. 3 and on shells from the previous lot and the next lot. An experiment is conducted by engineer troops with dozens of witnesses of the accident who had survived. The test uses a specially built model of turret No. 3. The final experiment is also based on the identification of the color of the smoke generated during the burning of Sanshiki shells compared to gunpowder. The smoke of burning powder is reddish-brown, while the smoke of burning Sanshiki shells is white. The witnesses of the disaster insist that they saw reddish-brown smoke. Moreover, during testing, it becomes clear that explosions do not occur below 80 degrees Centigrade. Cdr Yasui only escapes blame for the disaster by the IJN's top brass because the tests disclose that the Type 3 shells do not explode easily.
The M-Commission labors for two months and prepares their report. The commission doubts that the shells had caused the disaster. As a result the loading of Sanshiki shells on board ships is resumed. Later, the IJN revises completely their standards for the handling and storage of explosives aboard ships.
The investigation concludes that the explosion was "most likely caused by human interference". Some investigators think there was a ring of saboteurs, but the principal suspect is a disgruntled seaman gunner of turret No. 3 who had brooded over theft charges and was killed in the blast. The divers search for his body but it is never found. During the war, the belief persists that, somehow, he managed to escape.
22 July 1943:
Although the divers report that MUTSU is "bent like a broken nail", it is proposed to salvage the ship, tow it to a drydock at Kure and put her back on the line - optimistically - in three months. To convince their superiors in Kure, a dive is made with a modified 6-man minisub, but it snags on a railing on MUTSU. All officers aboard almost suffocate before the minisub breaks free. Finally, it is decided that it is impossible to raise MUTSU.
15 August 1943:
The survivors of MUTSU stationed on FUSO are transferred to NAGATO that, with other fleet units, departs via Yashima and Yokosuka for Truk. Once the survivors arrive on Truk, they form the reserve unit of the local 41st Guard Force. About 150 are sent to Saipan and almost all are killed there in 1944 during the U. S. invasion of the Marianas.
1 September 1943:
Removed from the Navy List.
Doubts as to the cause of the disaster remain, especially by those who favor the explanation that a submarine attacked MUTSU. Several months later IJN officials question the German naval attaché in Tokyo, Vice Admiral (later Admiral/Knight's Cross) Paul Wenneker (former CO of Panzerschiff DEUTSCHLAND/LUTZOW), about the circumstances surrounding British Operation "Source." Only after completing the exploration of MUTSU's wreck, do the Japanese decide that, indeed, the explosion must have occurred from within the magazine itself. [2]
July 1944:
The oiled-starved IJN cut a hole in the bottom of MUTSU’s hulk and pump out 580-tons of fuel oil for use by their ships in Operation Take ("Bamboo").
31 July 1945:
Seletar Naval Base, Singapore. Cruiser TAKAO is attacked and damaged heavily by British X-craft. For some, doubts return about the cause of the loss of MUTSU.
1949:
The first salvage attempt is made but soon abandoned.
20 March 1970:
The Fukada Salvage Company acquires the salvage rights to the wreck. Salvage operations start soon thereafter and continue for eight years.
23 August 1970:
Turret No. 4 is salvaged. Since then many artifacts are brought up including gun barrels, propellers, the bow section, anchors and crewmembers' personal belongings. The No. 4 turret is displayed at Etajima.
February 1972:
The bow section is lifted in a two-stage operation in using a 1,500-ton floating crane.
272 crewmembers remain entombed within the ship.
November 1972:
The MUTSU Memorial Museum opens in Tôwa Chô.
1978:
Salvage operations cease.
27 April 1994:
The museum moves into a new building.
1995:
According to a statement by the MUTSU Memorial Museum, no further salvage operations are planned.
